


Hold on, please

by meinstorie



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bless Hunk tbh, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk to the rescue, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith and Lance are window neighbours, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Kinda, Kinda Miscommunication, Lance's relationship with Plax isn't bad, M/M, Most of the characters are just mentioned, POV Keith (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Possibly Unrequited Love, Strong Language, emotional bois, there's a time skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 22:33:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13936806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meinstorie/pseuds/meinstorie
Summary: “Shut up. It’s still me hanging out with Plax and the term ‘date’ was implied,” Lance bragged, “so, help me choose an outfit.”Keith stomach did an uncomfortable flip when Plaxum’s nickname was dropped into the conversation.Or: Keith has a crush on Lance and suddenly his world is falling apart when he hears Lance has a date.





	Hold on, please

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in like 5 hours while pulling an all-nighter because I thought that was a good idea. Honestly, it wasn't.  
> Just btw, this was supposed to be a cute and fluffy au but then my brain was like "you had a bad day, write angst" and the cutesy au turned to this, sorry not sorry.  
> Also; no beta, whoop.

“Hey, Keef!” Lance yelled over from his open window with his usual cheerful tone which Keith knew to heart, “Keeeeeeeeef!” 

 

“What the fuck do you want?” Keith growled, stomping over to his own open window. 

 

Keith would have questioned himself for always leaving it open like an invitation for Lance to disturb his writing if he didn’t already know the reason. He was doing it exactly for the reason that Lance would call his name and he could be there in an instant if the latino ever needed him to. Though, mostly the idiot just bothered Keith for something stupid.

 

“Wow, no need to be rude,” Lance stated, pouting at Keith as the latter stuck his head out of the window to see his window neighbour better. 

 

Keith had known Lance for a longer time than he  _ wanted _ to have. About five years ago Keith had been taken into the Shirogane family, thus getting saved from the foster care and from the short-term foster families that always ended up throwing him out. He accidentally hadn’t believed that the Shirogane family would keep him for more than a few weeks before returning him to the foster care but here he was after five years with his infuriating(ly cute) neighbour. 

 

“So, I’ve got a date and-” Lance started but was cut off by Keith making a loud choking noise that was followed with multiple coughs, “what?”

 

“You? Having a date? That’s way too obvious of a lie, even for you,” Keith stated after recovering his coughing fit. 

 

Lance pursed his lips and set his eyes on a glare as he pierced through his neighbour with those  _ stunning _ blue eyes. Keith had to wheeze quietly to survive the blow that was Lance’s eyes, stealing his breath away like it was no one’s business. 

 

“You just keep on being rude, no way you’ll ever get any dates yourself with that attitude,” Lance scoffed, squinting at Keith before turning around to look over his room. 

 

Even from Keith’s spot, from a few meters away and inside another room, he could see the all-to-familiar blue walls of Lance’s room and the counter filled with picture frames. He could even see the old shark statue on the counter. Keith had given the statue to Lance a few years back after hearing how much he liked sharks. 

 

“Okay, technically it’s not a date-” 

 

“Hah, I knew it!” Keith huffed in reply, feeling something heavy lifting off from his chest. 

 

As much as he knew Lance could never score a date with another human being (well, Keith being the weird exception but Lance didn’t need to know that), it still didn’t stop his chest from feeling tight whenever Lance flirted with someone and got a somewhat positive reaction back. Lance had the looks to charm anyone but he usually ruined it with opening his mouth (again, Keith being the weird exception to this fact). 

 

“Shut up. It’s still me hanging out with Plax and the term  _ ‘date’ _ was implied,” Lance bragged, grinning at Keith in a way that showed off his perfect white teeth that used to make Keith want to punch him but as of late he had started wanting to kiss him instead, “so, help me choose an outfit.”

 

Keith stomach did an uncomfortable flip when Plaxum’s nickname was dropped into the conversation. She was one of the rare cases who seemed to find Lance’s flirting charming, or at least amusing enough to flirt back. Keith didn’t like seeing Lance with Plaxum at all, especially not flirting with her. 

 

“You’re asking me for outfit advice?” Keith asked, raising his brow in amusement even when on the inside he was feeling like a car had run over him. 

 

“Yeah, well, Allura isn’t answering the phone, Hunk is busy hanging out with Shay and Shiro is who knows where,” Lance counted every person with his finger and after every name drop he looked pointedly at Keith, “so you’re unfortunately my own option.”

 

“Why not, I dunno, Pidge?” Keith offered, ready to just close his window to wallow in self pity by writing poems about his unrequited crush, “And Shiro is at the gym. It’s three pm on a Saturday, where else would he be?”

 

“Ah, right,” Lance mumbled, rubbing his chin with his fingers like he was stroking his nonexistent beard, “Also, Pidge? I thought you knew your gremlin friend better than this. They would be no help at all.”

 

Lance’s expression turned into mock shock what Keith answered to with a roll of his eyes and trying to hide his small smile behind his hand.

 

“And I would?”

 

“Point taken.”

 

There was a short moment of silence and Keith thought,  _ hoped _ that would be it but of course Lance wasn’t letting it go. 

 

“Keeeeith, please help me!” Lance pleaded, causing Keith to fight with everything he had to not say yes, “I’m nervous about this.”

 

Suddenly Keith felt like the metaphor of getting ran over by a car didn’t feel enough,  _ more like a car going full speed over with him with spikes on its wheels _ . Lance was  _ nervous _ which could only mean he was even a little bit serious about Plaxum, not like many cases from before where Lance had the confidence of all of world’s most popular people that knew all their strengths and were proud of them. Though, of course, that confidence was usually just for show but for Lance to be  _ unable _ to keep up the show? It was serious. 

 

Keith hesitated a bit, spinning around so Lance couldn’t see him looking this  _ hurt _ . He heard a loud whine from Lance as he weighed down all his options, trying to figure out any way to avoid this situation. Not just helping Lance choose out an outfit, but to escape his feelings, to escape his universe sized crush on Lance.

 

“You-” Keith’s voice broke and he couldn’t continue before swallowing down and using all his willpower to steady his voice, “You’ll do fine without my opinion.”

 

“Keith, please, I seriously-” 

 

Keith didn’t hear the rest of Lance’s sentence as he shut the window in the middle of a conversation for the first time in what felt like an eternity. He hadn’t done something like that since about a half year ago when he and Lance had fought. They had stopped talking to each other for a day because who would even believe Lance could keep from talking for more than that. 

 

Keith smiled fondly at the memory, but soon he felt the same sting in his chest that he felt when he watched Lance flirting with someone. He curled up in on himself, willing the tears that were daring to rise to his eyes to stay down. 

 

Needless to say, Shiro found Keith from his room with puffy eyes. The night had ended up getting spent with watching conspiracy theories while curled up on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn and a lots of blankets. Keith never told Shiro his reason for crying and the older boy didn’t ask. 

 

**\-----**

**Three years later**

 

Keith was sitting in class, watching the field where the soccer club was running around. He was bored with the class but this wasn’t his only reason for him paying more attention to the practice happening on the field instead of the lesson. 

 

Lance always helped the soccer club with practice on Fridays, which happened to be today. He was running around with the other players through the field, keeping the ball going, out of the opponents reach. Sometimes he stopped to grab something to drink and his gaze traveled to where Keith was the latter was quick to look away before eye contact could happen. 

 

Now was one of those instances and he quickly turned back to his teacher, professor Ulaz, who was talking about some math problem Keith hadn’t paid enough attention to know anything of. He was very glad that this was the last lesson before he could go back home, way before Lance got back.

 

He hadn’t talked much to Lance after the latino’s successful  _ date _ with Plaxum which had kickstarted their relationship. To put it better, he had been avoiding Lance for the last three years which had been quite difficult considering they had the same friend group and even ended up going to the same high school. Keith had been lucky to have very little classes together with Lance during both freshman and sophomore year. Even now, on their junior year, they only had history together. It helped that Lance had given up trying to strike up a conversation in the middle of sophomore year. They only talked within a group and even then only rarely.

 

Keith had to admit he missed Lance’s presence but he couldn’t take listening Lance brag about his relationship with Plaxum. He had hoped to get over Lance with this little interactions but it had only got stronger and sometimes he caught himself looking out of his now always closed window, wondering if he would have to continue seeing Lance around but not talking to him for the rest of high school before they inevitably would go their own ways to wherever life would take them.

 

Keith both waited forwards and dreaded the day he would have to let go of catching glimpses of Lance, the knowledge of him being close even if they didn’t interact much and Lance in general. Not that he knew for sure that being separated for good would help him be able to let go of his ever growing feelings but he would have to try. For himself and for Lance. 

 

He almost missed when Ulaz informed the ending of the class but managed catch his speech about remembering to do homework. This speech had become a sign of freedom for everyone who had Ulaz’s class. 

 

However, before Keith made his leave, he paused to look out of the window one more time to take one last glance of Lance before he headed home. His eyes easily found the latino despite the fact that he was running all over the field with his quick, swimmer legs. 

 

Keith shook his head before heading to the door where a familiar, short figure was standing. 

 

Pidge sent him a questioning look but didn’t say anything when Keith didn’t give them any reaction. They usually spend time in silence anyway because there was no need to speak. 

 

At first, after Keith had started avoiding Lance, Pidge had yelled at him about abandoning Lance. And it took awhile for them to forgive Keith for it. Only when Shiro moved away to attend college, Pidge stepped in Shiro’s place as Keith’s best friend. They still didn’t know Keith’s reasons for avoiding Lance like the plague but they had stopped asking after Shiro had given them some speech about someone having to be there to be Keith’s impulse control and a lose reason as to why this couldn’t be Lance like it had been used to before Keith had his heart broken.

 

Keith didn’t think he would ever be able to tell anyone the reason. He had barely managed to tell Shiro after two months of avoiding the matter. His adoptive brother had been very understanding, not that he had ever questioned Keith’s reasons to be something with no value. He remembers crying about how everyone in the group hated him, Hunk and Pidge especially, and Shiro telling him it would work out and that he would help come up with some excuse for everyone. He was pretty certain that Hunk was still mad at him about it.

 

“Hey,” Pidge started, waking Keith from his thoughts, “wanna come over and play some smash bros?”

 

Keith wanted to say yes, but, knowing it was Friday and that this was only one of the days of the week he could open his window without getting caught by Lance, he had to decline. He knew it was a stupid reason but it had somehow become a habit of his to open his window to relive that moment he had done that for the first time and was met with a wide toothy grin. The time he first met Lance. 

 

“Nah, I’ve got homework, like piles of it,” Keith informed, and  _ technically  _ he wasn’t lying since he had a few essays to write for Monday. 

 

Pidge eyed him suspiciously but only for a few steps. They then turned to look forward with a soft huff before muttering out a  _ ‘fine’ _ .

 

They said their goodbyes at the doors where Pidge headed over to the opposite direction of Keith’s bike. Unlike Keith, Pidge was lucky enough to leave only couple of blocks from the school while Keith lived on almost the other side of the town. At least that meant Lance also had a long way home and since he didn’t yet have a car to use (he had a license), he had to use the slower public transportation which bought Keith some extra time.

 

Keith got to his red motorbike and immediately felt like a weight was lifted from his shoulders. His bike always gave him the feeling of freedom, the feeling that there was nothing to worry about. He loved driving fast around the town whenever he happened to feel down, mostly when he spotted Plaxum walking to Lance’s house. 

 

He got some flashbacks to when he had been walking down the street towards his house and then had Plaxum stopped to chat with him. Her lipstick had been a bit off but her hair was in perfect shape. Her eyes had a glint of something Keith didn’t want to think about as he had excused himself, quickly continuing down the street. But nothing came close to the sick feeling Keith had got when his eyes landed on Lance standing in front of his own house with smudged lipstick across his lips. He had tried greeting Keith but he had been too busy to run away to hide inside his house.

 

Keith shook his head at the memories, let them fade away as he got onto his motorbike. The moment he was speeding off to the road, he felt everything bad falling behind him, getting cleaned by the strong wind against his body. He felt at home. 

 

**\----**

 

The moment he got home, Keith opened his room’s window and leaned forward to look at the small fence between the Shirogane’s house and the McClain’s. He had used to climb over it to visit Lance despite it only taking ten seconds longer to ran the regular route. Sometimes he and Lance had wondered if they could build a bridge between their windows so it would be easier to visit each other but their parents had shot the idea down, saying  _ ‘it’s dangerous, just use the normal way!’ _ .

 

Keith smiled fondly at the memories before lifting his head up to look at Lance’s room. The white, semi see-through curtains were closed and so was the window. He remembered those curtains fluttering in the wind when Keith woke up in the middle of night from a nightmare. It had been worrisome how Lance had forgotten to close his window some nights but it had been very helpful for Keith. All he had had to do was call out to Lance and the latino would immediately be at the window, asking if Keith was okay and then they would chat until they fell asleep. They used to get scolded over it a lot but they still kept doing it whenever the other couldn’t sleep. 

 

There’s was a small sting in Keith’s eyes and as he blinked, few teardrops fell from his eyes, leaving their wet trail on his cheeks as they dropped onto the windowsill. As much as he wanted to smile when thinking of all of those childhood memories with Lance, he couldn’t find it in himself to do that, fondness and happiness replaced with the tears of regret. 

 

_ If- if just I hadn’t fallen for him, everything would be normal. _

 

He roughly wiped his eyes hist the back of his hand, trying to will the tears to stop. It didn’t really work as he fell to the ground, slumping down like his legs could no longer hold him up, the regret and guilt weighing him down. 

 

He must have been sitting there, dwelling in self pity for a while, when a sound of a car stopping close by caught him off guard. He managed to lift his body up enough to peek out of the window to see who it was. If it was one of Lance’s siblings, Keith would have to be quick but sneaky to close the window because after he had started avoiding Lance, his siblings had been ready to kill him. 

 

The people Keith saw were the least he was expecting. In front of Lance’s house was Hunk’s old run down yellow car and next to it were standing Hunk and none other than Lance. 

 

Keith had to hold down a yelp as he quickly ducked his head down, not wanting to get caught. He cursed under his breath as he recalled he had to close the window before either of the boys outside noticed it was open.

 

“Thanks, buddy, you saved me from the horror that is public transportation,” Keith heard Lance say which was followed by that melodic voice turning into a soft chuckle. It all only fueled Keith’s longing to see Lance’s smile again, to see Lance laugh. He barely ever looked happy with Keith around which was, well,  _ fair _ .

 

“No problem, bro. Everything for my best friend!” came Hunk’s reply and Keith could hear the smile in his voice which was also something Keith hadn’t come across in a long time. It made his guilt feel heavier on his back.

 

“See ya on Monday, dude. I think I’m going to be buried in homework all weekend,” Lance chimed all the while Keith heard his steps as he headed towards the front door of the McClain’s house. 

 

“See you! Good luck with homework,” Hunk said back but his farewell was only followed by one more long  _ ‘bye’  _ from Lance and a front door of a house closing but no sound of Hunk walking around his car and getting it. 

 

There was a moment of silence that felt like only a second but at the same time like an eternity passed. Keith’s body was all tensed up while he tried to held his breath. He knew he had to act fast because once Lance reached his room, he would notice the open window but he didn’t dare to make any sound when he knew that Hunk was standing down there like a hunter waiting for its prey.

 

“Keith,” came Hunk’s firm voice, all out of the laughter and softness from before and Keith could feel his hair stand up in fear. 

 

Keith got up enough to peek out of the window to find Hunk staring straight back at him with his usual kind brown eyes in a tight gaze that left no excuses, no way of escape, and Keith was terrified. 

 

Hunk sighed, looking down at his feet quickly before lifting his head to look back at Keith. “He’ll be in his room in about two minutes since he’s greeting the house pets, so let’s make this quick.”

 

Keith swallowed down so hard it almost hurt. He wanted to run but knew that wasn’t an option right now, he couldn’t run from Hunk, from whatever this situation was about.

 

“Meet me at the pizzeria a couple streets down from here, the one we used to go to often, in three hours,” was all Hunk said before walking around his car to the driver’s seat. 

 

Keith was about to get up more, to question what Hunk meant but froze when the boy about to get into his ca nodded at Lance’s house, reminding the dark haired boy that there was a time limit. He just quickly nodded before shutting his window and sinking onto the floor.

 

After a while, he crawled out the window’s range to get up and start getting ready to meet Hunk. As much as he didn’t want to go, he knew more bad would come to him if he didn’t show up in that pizzeria 

 

**\-----**

 

Keith showed up at the pizzeria exactly three hours after Hunk had told him to show up. He had decided to come by walking instead of with his bike because he didn’t want to catch Lance’s attention by leaving too loudly. 

 

He thought Hunk would show up after him but he was surprised to find Hunk behind the counter in working clothes, looking straight at him, piercing through him into his soul. It was unsettling but he walked forward and sat down close by to the counter.

 

Hunk didn’t waste time walking over to him and sitting in front of him. At first the taller boy didn’t say anything, deciding to just stare into Keith’s soul, making his guilt even heavier. Keith knew that he deserved this after three years of giving Lance, Hunk’s best friend, the cold shoulder but it still didn’t make him any less uncomfortable.

 

“Look. I’m not gonna ask your reasons because you’ll just end up giving me those half-assed excuses you and Shiro tried to feed us few years back,” Hunk stressed, his words stabbing straight through where it hurt the most, “but I’m going to tell you to quit it. You’re seriously tearing Lance apart.”   
  


Keith felt like someone was holding his head under ice water when those words hit him. He really wanted to do as Hunk told him but he just couldn’t bring himself to. His shoulders slumped down like it physically exhausted him to keep up this avoiding but there was no other way. 

 

Hunk’s mouth was a thin line as he understood Keith’s silent answer. 

 

“He needs you,” Hunk whispered, his voice gentle but firm, flowing with the usual Hunk-like warmth. 

 

It felt like forever since Keith had heard that tone of Hunk’s used when talking to him but he didn’t have much time to think about that when the words that had actually been said hit him in the face like a cold slap. 

 

“He really doesn’t,” Keith mumbled, already moving back to stand up and leave.

 

Lance had no need for Keith, he had Plaxum and Hunk by his side. There was no need or room for Keith to stand there, especially with Plaxum around. The small voice inside Keith was telling him that Lance did need him, but as a friend which Keith could no longer be, not when it made him sick to see Lance in love with someone else. 

 

“You don’t understand!” Hunk suddenly yelled, getting up, looking very ready to physically stop Keith from leaving which to Keith replied with a challenging glare, “He really does need you!”

 

Keith scoffed and shook his head furiously, taking a step towards the door. 

 

Hunk was immediately there, blocking his way, blocking the only escape door Keith had from admitting it out loud since telling Shiro. He was at his breaking point and he was ready to physically fight Hunk to get out of here. 

 

But when he glared up at Hunk to try and scare him out of the way so he wouldn’t need to hurt him, he was met with soft brown eyes that were pleading him to stay, pleading him to finally admit to it all. Suddenly, nothing was blocking the words that had wanted to get out of his mouth for longer than he could recall. 

 

“Lance doesn’t need me! And even if he did, I could never be there for him in the way he needs me to! I can’t be there for him when he’s in love with someone else! I want to! I want to be there for him but I can’t! I can’t… I- I can’t be there as his friend when I’m so in love with him that is hurts!”

 

Keith was wrapped into a warm, soft embrace that he hadn’t felt in a few years and then there was nothing to hold the tears from falling, soaking Hunk’s shoulder where Keith was hiding his face. There was a firm arm wrapped around him and a gentle hand stroking his back up and down and Keith couldn’t find it in himself to even try and stop the hiccups that escaped between his lips. 

 

For a moment those firm arms kept their grip on him, unmoving and full of warmth.

 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry,” Keith babbled, when he finally managed to calm down enough to find his voice again. 

 

He felt Hunk shake his head against his own, shushing him with his soft voice and then the arm were gone and Hunk was looking him straight in the eyes. But this time, instead of coldness and tightness, his brown eyes were filled with warmth, tears and maybe a bit of pride. 

 

“You don’t have to apologize. Not to me at least.”

 

Keith felt a bang against his chest at those words.  _ ‘Not to me at least.’ _ Inside he knew he would have to face Lance sooner or later, face his regrets and guilt and come clean to Lance but it was still scary. But he still wanted to, yearned to do it. 

 

He looked Hunk into the eyes and mentally gathering all of his courage, he nodded firmly, determined to make things right even if the outcome wasn’t what he secretly wanted it to be. He had to do this in order to move forward. 

 

Hunk let go of him, smiling widely. And, as such, he was out of the door, running back home. 

 

**\-----**

 

Keith didn’t immediately walk up to the McClain door when he got back. First, he was too out of breath to even speak. Second, one of Lance’s siblings could accidentally open the door and he would definitely get his ass kicked before he could even get a word in. And third, after climbing to him room, Keith found Lance’s room to be dark which meant he was out. This bought Keith some time to come up with a plan. 

 

He paced around his room until it all became too much and he had to open his window to get some fresh air.

 

The wind outside was cool and the sky was already dark and some stars had already appeared in the sky and he took a short moment to calm himself from his thoughts that were close to choking him. 

 

“Opening your window on a new schedule, I see,” a voice too familiar to Keith said with a mocking tone. 

 

Keith’s eyes snapped open and came face to face, with the familiar couple of metres of distance between, with Lance. His blue eyes were staring at him with hurt hidden under the venom and suddenly Keith couldn’t find any words.

 

“Still on with that  _ silent treatment _ ?” Lance asked, quirking an eyebrow like he was amused but even without properly talking to him for three years Keith knew he was trying to indirectly ask him if he was still planning on running away.

 

Keith made himself to find something,  _ anything  _ to say because he had promised to Hunk, to himself, that he would come clean to Lance.

 

“No. I- I never-”

 

“Ohh, he talks,” Lance sarcastically muttered loud enough for Keith to hear and the words stabbed straight through his heart but he wasn’t expecting setting everything right after three years of radio silence would go well. He was lucky enough that Lance was even talking to him right now. 

 

“Lance-”

 

“Don’t.”

 

“What?”

 

“Don’t say my name like you’ve been saying it on daily basis when you’ve avoided me for three years. Three years, Keith!” Lance yelled, frustratedly running his hands through his hair as he looked away in a search for the right words, “You left me for three years! And didn’t even tell me why! I kept asking myself what I had done wrong. I kept wondering if you actually hated me all this time and got tired of pretending that you cared just like most people.”

 

Keith opened his mouth but since he hadn’t planned what to say, no words came out. He just stood there, silent and helpless as he watched Lance break down into millions of pieces right in front of him,  _ because of him _ .

 

“I wanted to hate you! I wanted to feel like punching you every time you smiled but I couldn’t! I couldn’t, Keith, because you are -- were -- important to me,” Lance screeched as tears rose to his eyes, like rain covering the ocean and Keith felt more pain gnaw at his chest like a sharp knife, “I hated not hearing your voice every day like I used to!”

 

“Me too!” Keith suddenly bursted, his own rain of tears pouring out of his eyes, all the feelings wanting to come out all at once. Crying earlier in Hunk’s arms hadn’t even scratched the surface of how much tears he had held back for those past three years.

 

“Then why?” Lance demanded, his voice cracking while his eyes burned with anger and pain.

 

“Because-,” Keith started, his words catching in his throat. He had to swallow once to manage to make his voice again, his nerves starting to rise up alongside all the emotions.  _ Now was the moment of truth. _

 

Lance urged him on with a weak eyebrow raise, desperately wanting to hear what Keith had to say but he looked a bit suspicious like he couldn’t think of any good enough reason for what Keith had done to him. 

 

“Because I couldn’t be there for you in the way you wanted,  _ needed _ even.”

 

Lance let out a huff of air, it sounded somewhat amused but mostly hurt and disbelieving. “What the fuck are you even talking about!? That’s some shitty excuse you’ve got there,  _ mullet _ .”

 

Keith wanted to ignore the rage filling him up with the speed of a lighting in order to explain himself better but he couldn’t. Not when all his feeling were laid out in the open, right in front of Lance, the person he loved the most. 

 

“You just had to go and get a girlfriend! You just had to be a total flirt and happen to meet the only girl who would ever even like your flirting! You just had to go and break my heart!” Keith all but screamed, wheezing in air afterwards, his throat feeling sore with all the yelling and crying. 

 

This time Lance didn’t even try to pretend to be amused. He straight up banged his fist against the windowsill with all force he had. His eyes shone with blazing anger as a low growl escaped from his throat. 

 

“What the living hell does Plax have to do with anything!?” Lance yelled, his eyes straight on Keith’s, “And who the fuck was the one who went and broke a heart because it certainly wasn’t me!”

 

Keith bared his teeth at Lance, letting out a warning growl but instead of stepping down, Lance rose to the challenge with his own glare sharpening.  _ This isn’t how it was supposed to go! _

 

“Everything! She has everything to do with it! She had to be pretty with shitty taste in guys!” 

 

Keith wanted this to shut up but he couldn’t stop his mouth now that it had opened. Before Lance could even defend his or Plaxum’s honour, Keith was continuing.

 

“Well, I guess I’m no better since I happened to fall for the same guy as her! But what does that matter, you have very clearly established I have a shitty taste in  _ everything _ !” Keith growled, his voice lowering just slightly when he saw Lance’s face morph from anger to shock. 

 

Keith wasn’t done yet though, “So, I fell in love with a guy who would never love me back because he found the  _ perfect  _ girl by some miracle! What of it? I could easily deal with the love of my life looking lovingly at someone else that wasn’t me! Easy! Except it wasn’t, you asshole!”

 

Lance was standing in his own room, awestruck look in his eyes as Keith panted for air like his life depended on it. 

 

His throat hurt from all the yelling and he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to speak tomorrow. With that as an excuse, he thought it had been important to get it all out now and not later. But now the problem was that he didn’t dare to look back at Lance again now that he had turned around. 

 

“Keith,” came Lance’s surprisingly soft voice but even in his surprise Keith refused to look up.

 

“Keith, look at me,” Lance spoke again, voice pleading as he added, “please.”

 

Like under a spell, Keith looked up, unable to refuse Lance begging him, not  _ this time _ . 

 

Lance waited until he managed to make eye contact with Keith before he spoke, “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

 

The soft look in Lance’s eyes was doing funny things to Keith like making his heart jump in his chest and his stomach to flip, causing him to feel like he was floating in mid air. He ignored the feeling the best he could to find his voice once more to answer. 

 

“I wonder.”

 

“All of this could’ve been avoided if you just- for fuck’s sake, Keith!”

 

“Would you’ve done that if the person you want to say it to is preparing for a date with his future girlfriend with this stupid but cute smile on his face?” 

 

“Probably not.”

 

“Then don’t-”

 

“But I would’ve done it a couple of months after the guy and his girlfriend broke up, though in friendly terms, there was no drama.”

 

Keith found all of his movements pausing, his body tensing up.

 

“What?”

 

“You heard me, cowboy. Me and Plax broke up at the end of sophomore year.”

 

“That- that was like 7 months ago.”

 

Lance nodded with a firm look in his eyes. It wasn’t sad or regretting but peaceful for what felt like the first time this evening, maybe it was.

 

“Why?” Keith whispered so quietly that it was almost inaudible but Lance heard him anyway. 

 

“I just realized Plax wasn’t the one for me. She actually helped me on her own accord to notice that since I at first didn’t,” Lance spoke gently, rubbing the back of his neck in a bit of an awkward way. 

 

“How?” Keith questioned, alarmed, “She was perfect for you! She even liked your dumb pick-up lines!”

 

Lance let out a laugh at that, a light, purely amused one with no sarcasm or hurt behind it. He was laughing for real, in front of Keith, at something  _ Keith _ had said. Keith’s heart was soaring as he watched Lance shoot him a lazy but real smile.

 

“I thought that too but she helped me realize that I needed someone who could challenge me. Someone who would yell with me until everything was out of my system. Someone who dives straight into things, dragging me with them, washing away all the uncertain thoughts.”

 

Keith tilted his head in confusion while he tried his best not to seem too starstruck when Lance’s eyes softened with every word he said until his eyes were so full of love that Keith felt overwhelmed to be under that blue gaze. He let out a soft whimper that Lance didn’t miss in the silence of the night, it making him smile lovingly at his dark haired neighbour. 

 

“I really want to kiss you right now.” Lance whispered, his gaze dropping to Keith’s lips for a split second.

 

Keith let out a squeak of surprise but he was quick to clear his throat and in fixing his posture before lowly saying, “Stole the words straight out of my mouth.” 

 

Now it was Lance’s turn to whimper, though he was louder than Keith had been and he even squirmed for good measure. Keith found it just a tad bit distracting.

 

“That bridge would be really useful right now.”

 

“Yeah,” Keith muttered, “it would.”

 

There was a short moment of silence where Keith looked around while Lance followed his every movement like he was trying not to miss even the smallest details of him. He was struck back to paying attention other than ogling Keith when the latter grunted. 

 

“Okay. Lance, open you window as wide as you can.”

 

“What?”

 

“Just do it.”

 

Lance hesitantly nodded, fiddling with the window a while before being able to push it open to its widest point. Keith did the same with his own window. 

 

“Step back.”

 

“Keith, what are you-?”

 

Before Lance could even register, Keith had backed to the inner wall of his room and was sprinting towards his window with fulls speed.

 

“Are you crazy!?” Lance managed to screech before Keith leapt through his window towards Lance’s.

 

He lept into the room, accompanied with a sharp noise of something hitting against the windowsill. Then he crashed into Lance and both of them went tumbling down to the ground with a lots of yelling. 

 

“Ouch, that hurt-”

 

“I told you to step back!” 

 

“Well,” Lance grunted, “not my fault I was too scared for you to even move.”

 

Keith huffed out an amused breath before he rolled off of Lance with a grunt of pain.

 

“Are you alright, samurai?” Lance asked, sitting up so fast Keith felt dizzy in his sake. 

 

“I’ll survive.” Keith mumbled, lifting his hand up to stroke Lance’s cheek gently, like he was something precious. Which, to Keith, he was. 

 

Lance let out a slightly choked out laugh as he shook his head at Keith’s antics. This movement causing him to nuzzle against Keith’s hand. Both of the smiled fondly. 

 

“You’re lucky that my family wasn’t around to hear or see that. They would have killed you for doing something so stupid.”

 

“They would probably kill me on sight anyway,” Keith shrugged off, his smile turning down just a bit as he sat down to match Lance in eye level, “I really am sorry for ignoring you. I just-”

 

Lance shook his head again, smiling, “It’s okay. We’re okay.”

 

Keith sighed, lifting both of his hands up to Lance’s face and squishing his cheeks that caused the latino boy to giggle. 

 

“So, ninja-samurai, are you gonna do what you came over here to do?”

 

“Ninja-samurai is not a thing.”

 

“Yes it is!” 

 

“Is not.”

 

“So is.”

 

“Nope.”

 

“God dammit, Keith, just kiss me already or I swear to the ever living fu-”

 

Keith pulled Lance’s face towards his own with a sharp but soft yank, locking their lips together and Lance immediately melted into the kiss. They both were smiling, so it was hard to deepen the kiss but for now Keith just wanted to enjoy the feel of Lance’s soft lips against his, even if only for a short moment. 

 

Needless to say they stayed together catching up on things until they fell asleep. Lance’s mom ended up scolding them in the morning but there was also a lot of crying and apologizing. 

 

**\-----**

 

“Keeeeeeeeef!” Lance called out from his window, repeating the same call at least three more times before Keith’s head popped out of the window. 

 

“What is it?” he asked in a mock annoyed tone as he fondly rolled his eyes at his boyfriend. 

 

“Help me choose an outfit for my date!” Lance excitedly said while holding two different pairs of almost the same shade of blue jeans in his hands.

 

Keith raised and amused eyebrow as he leaned over the windowsill to see the shine of excitement in Lance’s eyes more clearly. It was like watching the ocean dazzling in the sunlight.

 

“Lance, you do realize I’m your date?” 

 

Lance waved his hand in the air in a dismissive way after putting down the pair of jeans. 

 

“Obviously. Exactly why I need you opinion,  _ babe _ . So, I’ll know what makes my boyfriend swoon.”

 

“I thought you already knew?” Keith asked, amused at Lance’s antics.

 

“Well, I don’t. Because a certain someone never really tells me what I look good in!” Lance argued with a fond tone in his voice, his words in no way meant to be hurtful. 

 

“I think you look good in anything,” Keith stated, turning around to return to writing his poetry, leaving Lance to splutter.

 

There was a loud, familiar screech. It was accusing, embarrassed, shocked and flattered at the same time and it was one of Keith’s favourite sounds in the world.

 

“You can’t just say something like that out of the blue, it’s not fair!” 

 

“It wasn’t out of the blue, you asked,” Keith informed back, smiling to himself, feeling proud of making Lance once again an embarrassed mess with just one compliment. 

 

“Ma! My boyfriend is bullying me!” Lance yelled loudly but only got a muffled  _ ‘shut up, lover boy’  _ reply from his sister, Veronica, who resided in the room next to his. 

 

“Not my fault you’re still single!” Lance yelled back.

 

Keith walked to the window just in time to see Lance stick his tongue out at the wall at the exact same time the door of his room flew open, revealing a furious looking Veronica. 

 

Soon Lance was on the ground, getting pinned down by his older sister.

 

“Keith! Help me! Nica is gonna kill me!”

 

“Hmm, I dunno, maybe you deserve it?” Keith replied, exchanging smirks with Veronica. 

 

“Betrayal!” was all Keith could hear Lance shriek when he walked away from the window to prepare for his date.


End file.
